Slow dough: real bread : bakers’ secrets for making amazing long-rise loaves at home

90 Pages·2016·7.09 MB·English

by  Chris Young

Bakers’ secrets for making
amazing long-rise loaves at home
h
u g
w D o
S l o
D
A
R E
A L B
R E
C H R I S Y O U N G
AND THE BAKERS OF THE REAL BREAD CAMPAIGN
For Marika Contents
Slow Dough: Real Bread ISBN: 978-1-84899-737-0
Chris Young
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
First published in the UK and USA in 2016 by
Typeset in Brandon Grotesque and Adobe Jenson Pro 4 Foreword
Nourish, an imprint of Watkins Media Limited
19 Cecil Court Colour reproduction by XY Digital 6 The Fight for Better Bread
London WC2N 4EZ Printed in China
10 Real Slow Bread
[email protected] Publisher’s note:
16 Terms and Techniques
While every care has been taken in compiling the recipes for
Copyright © Watkins Media Limited 2016
this book, Watkins Media Limited, or any other persons who 23 Equipment
Text copyright © Chris Young 2016
have been involved in working on this publication, cannot
Photography copyright © Watkins Media Limited 2016 26 Ingredients
accept responsibility for any errors or omissions, inadvertent
The right of Chris Young to be identified as the Author of or not, that may be found in the recipes or text, nor for 32 Troubleshooting
this text has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, any problems that may arise as a result of preparing one of
35 Pre-Ferment
Designs and Patents Act of 1988. these recipes. If you are pregnant or breastfeeding or have
any special dietary requirements or medical conditions, it is 63 Long Ferment
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced
advisable to consult a medical professional before following
in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, 105 Sourdough
any of the recipes contained in this book.
including information storage and retrieval systems, without
153 Leftovers
permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer Notes:
who may quote brief passages in a review. Unless otherwise stated: 170 Beyond Your Kitchen
• Use medium fruit and vegetables
Managing Editor: Rebecca Woods 171 Bookshelf
• Use fresh ingredients, including herbs and spices
Editor: David Whitehouse
• Do not mix imperial and metric measurements 172 Index
Design: Viki Ottewill
• 1 teaspoon = 5ml
Production: Uzma Taj 176 Role of Honour
1 tablespoon = 15ml
Commissioned Photography: Victoria Harley
1 cup = 240ml
Food Stylist: Rebecca Woods
Prop Stylist: Linda Berlin nourishbooks.com
A CIP record for this book is available from the
British Library
Foreword
“You must be mad!” Derisive remarks such as this If that sounds a rather grandiose claim, this book that the flour for our bread is poorer in nutrients life worth living. The same applies to Real Bread
were once familiar to anyone announcing their justifies it by setting out the differences between than it once was, even as the enormous cost of made nearby by people whom you know or can
intention to quit their job and start a microbakery, Real Bread and industrial loaves in an admirably heart disease, obesity and diabetes indicates that get to know.
or even simply to make their own bread. After all, accessible way. The message boils down to “out we should be eating less, but better. Cheap loaves
Successful revolutions involve a change of power.
supermarket loaves are cheap as chips and they stay with additives, in with fermentation time” and here with little in them have had their day. What we
The Real Bread revolution is about more even
soft forever. Making your own is a waste of time and simplicity and practicality are leavened with the wry do need are more real bakers whose growing skills
than imaginative career changes, artisan bakery
you’d have to be a crank to want to bake for a living. humour (not to mention plentiful puns) essential to are rewarded with fair pay, self-respect and a sense
start-ups or niche markets. It’s about peacefully
the communication of important truths. of fulfilment.
Accusations of commercial naivety bordering on and productively taking the power to make bread
irrationality certainly came my way in the 1970s As Chris points out in his introduction to this book, One of the most nonsensical accusations made back into our own hands. This book shows why
when I was starting a bakery in a small Cumbrian one of the Real Bread Campaign’s main tasks is to against the Campaign by its detractors has been that, and how. If everyone who reads it both uses it and
village using wholemeal/wholewheat flour from defend the integrity of concepts such as “sourdough”. by drawing attention to the way industrial loaves are joins the movement, we’ll get closer to our goal of
the local watermill. But 40 years on, sales of white “artisan” and “craft” against the opportunism of food made and the undeclared ingredients used in their communities in which everyone lives within walking
loaves in the UK are down by 75% since 1974, companies that mislead the public by applying these production, we are somehow “dragging the whole distance of Real Bread. Roll on, as they say.
with a concurrent rise in “brown” and wholemeal. words to industrial products and processes that are baking industry down”. But rather than collude in
Andrew Whitley
Government figures don’t reveal how much of the far from the “real thing”. the ridiculous pretence that all loaves are equally
Co-founder of the real Bread Campaign
switch has been away from industrial loaves in good, the Campaign encourages professional bakers
This matters, because reducing the mounting
favour of Real Bread, but they confirm that the and amateurs alike to make the best bread they can,
burden of diet-related ill health in the UK will only
bread scene in Britain is changing like never before. using flour from nutritious grains, fermented slowly
happen if citizens can make well-informed decisions
for maximum digestibility and nourishment, and
It was E.F. Schumacher (author of Small is Beautiful) about what to eat. Choosing good bread isn’t that
enjoyed as close to their place of origin as possible.
who observed that a crank is “a small lever that easy, partly because its real goodness is not always
This is where information and a sense of connection
causes revolutions”. Perhaps it’s the sense of an evident on the surface, and partly because Real Bread
transform bread’s meaning and the power contained
uncontrollable reordering of familiar ways that so involves much more than well-made dough. The
within it. The home-baked loaf that you place on
perturbs the multi-billion-pound loaf industry, dominant model of loaf production and distribution
the family table, made from a named flour, perhaps
whose market is in evident disarray. But to looks precarious: its high-energy, long-distance,
even grown by a known farmer, isn’t savoured by
ordinary citizens, this is a benign ferment (of micro- globalized business model isn’t relevant to the
those who eat it because it’s cheap, but because it is
organisms) whose product will be bread that’s better de-carbonized economy that the future requires. A
immeasurably rich with the associations that make
for individuals, communities and the biosphere. dysfunctional commoditized grain system ensures
4 Foreword Foreword 5
WHERE WE STAND to this, artificial additives have only been subjected to a
relatively short period of testing before being declared
As I live and work in London, I know more about
safe (or “generally recognized as safe” as the more
the bread of Britain than of other countries. Until
pragmatic US Food and Drink Administration put it)
relatively recently, the future of bread in Britain
for food manufacturers using them in their products.
looked bleak. Following the Second World War,
The Fight for the number of independent bakeries headed into No one knows for sure, however, if there might be
what seemed a permanent decline, with a handful any adverse effects from long-term consumption of
of industrial giants and multiple retailers rising to the artificial additives found in the modern industrial
Better Bread
dominance and helping to speed their demise. loaf and across many people’s diets in other heavily
processed foods. Can we trust that these things,
A particularly dark day for Real Bread historians
either individually or in the endless combinations
In the words of my father-in-law and dad, an artisan baker (yet) but you can still make brilliant came in July 1961, when the British Baking
they’ll turn up in a supermarket shopping basket,
respectively: slow down and get real! Real Bread. While the bakers from whom we Industries Research Association unleashed what
are truly safe? History is littered with a veritable
harvested these recipes are experts, you don’t have later became known as the Chorleywood Bread
Since March 2009, I have been the coordinator chemistry set of substances once used by industrial
to be one to bake their loaves. The people we most Process (CBP), which takes a shortcut through
of the Real Bread Campaign, part of the food and millers and bakers, only to be withdrawn or banned.
had in mind when cooking up this book are those dough’s natural fermentation and “ripening” time,
farming charity Sustain. Through my work, I’ve They include azodicarbonamide (banned in
passionate home bakers, who’ve got the hang of basic slashing it from hours or even days to minutes.
come into contact with some great people, many of countries including the UK and Australia but legal
loaves and now want to further their flour arranging.
whom also happen to be brilliant bakers but whose Convinced by costly marketing campaigns to believe in others, including the USA), benzoyl peroxide,
We hope that some professionals will enjoy it, too,
work goes unsung. Believing their praises do deserve that one CBP loaf was as good as any other, we agene (nitrogen trichloride, banned in the 1940s)
and we encourage all of you to experiment with the
to be sung, I put out an open call through our began to look to our supermarkets for sandwich and potassium bromate.
recipes to make them work for you, make them your
international supporters’ network for long-rise rolls, using the same squeeze test we might use for
own and make the best Real Bread you can.
recipes to form the basis of a book celebrating Real toilet rolls. As a nation, we conspired in a race to Clean loaf or just clean label?
Bread and the people who make it. This is that book. the bottom, and by the end of the 1990s we were
Though some of the differences between Real Bread
challenging anyone who had the temerity to charge
So, why have we produced a book of breads that and industrial loaves may be obvious, labelling and
more than about 7p a loaf. Nope, that’s not a typo:
take longer to make? Some of the artificial additives marketing regulations, and the way they are policed,
in 1999 at least one supermarket dropped the price
industrial loaf fabricators throw into their doughs can leave loopholes that deny shoppers the right to
of its “value” range own-brand loaves far below even
are used in their drive to reduce one very important know exactly what they’re getting.
the cost of production, to just seven pence.
natural ingredient: time. Even some domestic recipe
Knowing that many of us find a litany of E numbers
writers seem to be in a race to the finish line, NB: In compiling this book, I have rewritten and often
Chemistry set off-putting, some manufacturers are now turning
instructing their readers to use fast-action yeast, tweaked recipes that were donated to us for this book. In
to so-called processing aids. By a quirk of EU law,
added sugar and warm proving, declaring with glee some cases, the changes have been significant and what To meet their need for speed, Big Bakers lace their
if an industrial loaf (or other food) manufacturer
how little time the loaf will take. appears on the page might better be described as “inspired dough with so-called “processing aids” and other
deems an artificial additive to be a “processing aid”,
by”, rather than created by a particular baker, but as I didn’t artificial additives, which help the dough conform to
Increasingly, however, Real Bread bakers are it does not have to appear on the label, as long as
want to take credit away from any of them, their names the stresses of the process; to become stretchy enough
reminding people that long and slow tends to any “residues do not present any health risk and do
still appear. I’m sure you’ll love the loaves but if you’re not to rise high and quickly, and then to have strength
be far more satisfying than a quick finish. Far from not have any technological effect on the finished
utterly pleased as punch with one, please don’t blame the enough to stay risen during baking. Other substances
farinaceous folly, a long-proved dough has more time product”. As a consequence, suppliers often market
named baker. might be used to deter the growth of mould and to
to develop flavour, tends to produce a less crumbly these additives as “clean label” or “label friendly”.
help the finished loaf to stay softer for longer.
loaf and, in the case of genuine sourdough, might If you donated a recipe and the way we made a loaf is Companies may defend the use of processing aids
even offer health benefits. different from the way you do, or yours was one of many A few thousand years of people eating Real Bread with comments along the lines of “we always comply
we simply couldn’t cram in – sorry! has proved beyond any doubt that it is safe – no, with the law”, which is nice to know. Another defence
I’m not a professional baker, which is part of the
actually good for the vast majority of us. Compared is that “they get used up during manufacture”, despite
message of this doughy tome: You might not be
6 The Fight for Better Bread The Fight for Better Bread 7
the fact that their use may, quite legally, “result in the Graham and Thomas Allinson, and national GET REAL
unintentional but technically unavoidable presence newspaper campaigns in the early 20th century, and
Everyone will have his or her own Simple, eh? Technically, the only for leavening. Anything else is, by
of residues of the substance or its derivatives in the the Campaign for Real Bread that ran in Britain as
idea of what Real Bread is, so for the ingredients essential for making bread definition, unnecessary. That said,
final product”. the 1970s turned into the 1980s, the fight for better
record, here’s how the Campaign are flour and water. With these two without a little salt, bread can taste
bread is perhaps as old as bread itself.
defines it: things you can make unleavened bland and you might prefer to let
The Great British Fake Off
Since the 1990s, the number of bakers working flatbreads, or nurture the yeasts and someone else culture the yeast, rather
Real Bread is made without the use of
Like the word “bread” itself, the terms “artisan” and tirelessly to share their passion for (and loaves of) bacteria naturally present in the flour than do it yourself. We also celebrate
processing aids or any other artificial
“craft” have no legal definition. Anyone can call Real Bread has grown enormously, as has the interest to create a sourdough culture the use of other, natural ingredients.
additives.
themselves an artisan or craft baker and market their for what they make and how they make it. A
loaves as such. The production methods used may milestone in the origins of the current Real Bread
not be obvious and, in the case of loaves that aren’t Campaign, which works to unite these people as a
pre-packed – such as those from a supermarket coordinated movement, was the 2006 publication Community artificial additives used) on all loaf bags. In the
in-store “bakery” – you’ll struggle to find whether of Andrew Whitley’s book Bread Matters. An case of unwrapped loaves, this information must
The Real Bread Campaign doesn’t wish to deny any
or not artificial additives have been used. attempt at putting down the knowledge he’d built be displayed clearly at the point of sale.
industrial baker their job, but believes that a small,
up founding and running The Village Bakery
An allegedly “freshly baked” unwrapped loaf sold by independent Real Bread bakery is of greater benefit • Meaningful, legal and enforced definitions for the
Melmerby, between 1976 and 2002, Bread Matters
a retailer may have been manufactured a long time to both its bakers and to other people in its local terms “fresh” and “freshly baked” when used in the
sets out what has gone wrong and, importantly, what
ago in a factory far away, then chilled or frozen. community. These benefits might include: marketing of loaves – not to be used for “bake-off”
we can all do to help change things for the better.
Having then been re-baked in a retailer’s “loaf products.
• Skilled, meaningful jobs for local people producing
tanning salon” increases the energy consumed in Immediately upon the book’s publication, people
food for their neighbours. • Meaningful, legal definitions for “sourdough”,
production, and results in a loaf that may well stale took it as a manifesto and began asking Andrew how
“artisan”, “wholegrain” and “craft”.
faster than a genuinely fresh one. Not that you’d they could join his fight that so well reflected and • More jobs-per-loaf than an industrial loaf factory.
know any of that, so you could be forgiven for represented their own beliefs, personal experience of • Section six of the Bread and Flour Regulations
• Opportunities for social interaction between
making a like-for-like comparison with a loaf of Real finding industrial loaves hard to stomach or, in the 1998 to be tightened and fully enforced to ensure
employees and customers.
Bread from an independent bakery, which helps to cases of many bakers, their ways of bread making. the likes of dried gluten and soya flour do not make
sustain more skilled jobs per loaf for local people After a year or two of this, he turned to his friends • Support for the local high street and economy: their way into loaves sold as wholemeal.
making genuinely freshly baked bread without the at Sustain and asked if the charity fancied being money spent with a local business is more likely
In the meantime, the Campaign calls upon all bakers
use of artificial additives. Which part of this is fair the organization that would join the dots, bringing to be reinvested locally.
and retailers voluntarily to provide full information
on you the shopper or a genuine artisan baker? together everyone who cares about the issues.
• Potential to support local producers, growers about their loaves, stop marketing bake-off loaves as
But while the wrapped, sliced industrial loaf still In 2008, Sustain set up the Real Bread Campaign or other smaller or more ethical suppliers, by fresh, and ensure that the terms “sourdough”, “artisan”
accounts for the largest percentage of the “bread” website to lay out its beliefs, aims and plans, as providing an outlet for their goods. and “craft” are used appropriately.
market in Britain, it is in decline, with sales falling well as a Real Bread Finder map to help people
• The chance to shop on foot, by bike or public
more than £100 million a year. Retail industry track down additive-free loaves locally. Quickly, this The Real Bread Campaign kneads YOU!
transport, rather than having to drive to an
research over the past few years has been consistent attracted the interest of hundreds of people, and
out-of-town megamarket. Whether you’re a domestic or professional Real
in reporting “artisan” and “speciality” bread as being after a series of open meetings, Andrew and Sustain
Bread baker (or simply love eating their loaves and
the only sectors of the market seeing significant officially launched the Campaign on 26 November
Honesty just bought this book because you like the pictures)
growth in sales. of that year. Since then it has attracted thousands
we’d love you to join our mutually supportive,
of supporters in more than 20 countries. Behind To protect shoppers and independent businesses
international community and help support our
a rallying cry of “not all loaves are created equal!”, alike, the Real Bread Campaign calls for an Honest
THE REAL BREAD CAMPAIGN charity’s work.
together we’ve been finding and sharing ways to Crust Act in the UK that will require:
From Roman and medieval statutes, through 19th- make bread better for us, better for our communities Read more and join the Real Bread Campaign today
• All bakers and retailers to provide full lists of
century wholemeal advocates, including Sylvester and better for the planet. at realbreadcampaign.org.
ingredients (and any “processing aids” or other
8 The Fight for Better Bread The Fight for Better Bread 9
SOUR POWER come as no surprise to learn that genuine sourdough
loaves tend to last longer than commercially yeasted
Right, stop chewing at the back, it’s time for a
ones . . . well, if you don’t eat them first.
science lesson . . .
Sourdough is leavened using a culture of yeasts
TYPES OF REAL BREAD
and lactic acid bacteria (LAB) that occur naturally
all around us, particularly on the surface of cereal All bread in the world can be divided into just a
grains. Occurring in lower concentrations, and not handful of types according to how they are made.
Real Slow Bread the results of a century and a half of baker’s yeast As this book is all about long, slow fermentation,
breeding programmes, these “wild” yeasts take longer we have split them into chapters according to how
to get their mojo working. During the hours that they are leavened:
dough leavened in this way needs to rise, all sorts
Some domestic baking recipe writers and teachers AGED TO PERFECTION • Pre-ferment – dough made in two stages using
of weird and wonderful things go on, some of which
suggest that dough must be kept somewhere warm a pre-ferment often based on baker’s yeast, some
For many people, allowing their dough time to “do might be beneficial health-wise, including:
to rise, or that yeast left anywhere cooler than their with more yeast added later as well
what a dough’s gotta do” is simply a matter of good
fevered brows will DIE! What they overlook is • A change in the parts of gluten responsible for
taste. Yes, you can bang out a loaf using warm water • Long ferment – dough made in a single-stage
the fact that fresh yeast is generally stored in the triggering the coeliac response and non-coeliac
and a sachet of instant yeast in an hour or so, but process with baker’s yeast
refrigerator (at a far-from-balmy 1–3°C/34–37°F) gluten sensitivity
you might be short changing yourself. Real Bread is
and that a standard piece of professional bakery kit • Sourdough – dough leavened only using a
a natural product and, just as with a whole range of • A reduction of phytic acid, an “anti-nutrient” found
is a retarder, which is basically a big dough fridge. sourdough starter
food and drink, from ripening fruit to maturing beef, in bran that binds with certain nutrients, including
Another product of their need for speed is the whisky, wine or cheese, time is essential in getting calcium, magnesium, zinc and iron, meaning that You will also find enriched and laminated doughs
relatively high level of yeast you find in some recipes: the very best product. the body can’t make use of them dotted around within these chapters, so the
the more of these microscopic, gas-burping dough definitions of these have been included, too.
During this time, all sorts of biochemical alchemy • An increase in levels of available B vitamins
monsters (which, if you have kids, is a great way to
goes on that, ultimately, will result in a texture, depth
introduce bread science to your little monsters) you • LAB can bring about changes during fermentation Pre-ferment
and complexity of flavour and aroma that can’t be
throw into the mix, the less time it will take them that lower the glycaemic index (GI) of bread,
rushed or synthesized, whatever the pedlars of “bread A pre-ferment comprises flour, water and yeast,
to generate the necessary amount of carbon dioxide. which can be handy for people challenged by
flavour”(I kid you not) to big industry or “artisan which is left to ferment before adding the bulk of
diabetes and obesity
A third trick up the speed freak’s sleeve is the sourdough” packet mixes to unsuspecting home the flour and other ingredients used in a dough. The
addition of sugar, be that refined or in another form, bakers might say. You might also find that a long One of the motivations behind the Real Bread yeast used to make a pre-ferment can be commercial
such as honey or agave syrup. This puts the yeast on fermented loaf is less crumbly and stales more slowly. Campaign’s creation was people saying that they (baker’s) or, while we have separated sourdough
a “high”, and into a CO2-producing overdrive. There found industrial loaves hard to digest but that they loaves into their own chapter in this book, in the
is, however, more than enough energy contained in Time is on your side could enjoy genuine sourdough, and in some cases a form of a sourdough starter.
the flour, which the yeast is eminently capable of wider range of long-fermented Real Breads. But why
Happily, this extra time need not eat into your time: A pre-ferment can range in hydration from a loose
obtaining for itself. In fact, beyond a certain level might that be the case? Despite a few compelling
it can in fact buy you time while the dough gets on batter to a stiff dough. It might also contain salt
of added sugar, the yeast struggles to cope. studies and a chorus of voices, there has been far
with it. Perhaps counterintuitively, using a recipe with and, in the case of old dough, perhaps fat and other
too little research to say any of these things for
And that’s all before a baker reaches for the crutch less yeast and letting dough rise slowly somewhere ingredients. There are several reasons a baker might
sure. The Campaign continues to call for adequate
of the aforementioned artificial additive arsenal . . . cooler, in some cases all day or even overnight, allows want – or need – to use a pre-ferment:
investment into research that could lead to these and
you to go off and do something else.
So, what’s wrong with speeding things up? Why other potential benefits either being proved beyond Yeast Vigour
would you want to delay the opportunity to tear into You may think that great flavour and a relaxed baking reasonable doubt, or ruled out.
An analogy for getting the fermentation underway
a freshly baked loaf of Real Bread, slather it with schedule are reasons enough to slow things down, but
. . . and when you find out that LAB are essential to might be giving the yeast a good run-up. In a straight
butter and tuck in? Why does any of this matter? when it comes to sourdough, there might be more . . .
preserved foods such as cheese and kimchi, it should dough it has to go from nought to full throttle
TYPES OF PRE-FERMENT The interaction of these bacteria and the products produce both lactic and acetic acids. A key part of
of their respiration (including lactic and acetic acids) mastering sourdough is keeping the concentration
• B atter pre-ferment (e.g. • Dough pre-ferment • Old dough (e.g. pâte • Sourdough culture
contribute to the flavour, texture and aroma of the and ratio of these acids in balance. Too much acetic
poolish) A mixture that (e.g. biga) A stiffer dough fermentée) A piece of (e.g. desem, saurteig,
bread. Additional benefits in a genuine sourdough acid and the bread will taste very sharp and perhaps
has a high water content, of perhaps 50–60% unbaked dough kept back lievito madre, mother,
include slowing the staling of the loaf. vinegary (it is the same acid that is found in vinegar),
perhaps 100% hydration – hydration – i.e. water from a previous bake, chef, starter etc.)
whereas bread with too little acetic acid and a higher
i.e. equal weights of flour weight is 50–60% that of or made especially, that Water is added to flour Not Yeast Free
level of lactic acid might not have any discernible
and water. Typically made the flour. Typically made is fully proved and then to culture the yeasts it
It is a myth (and ignorant, or perhaps even sourdough characteristics.
with a tiny percentage of with a tiny percentage of added to a new dough. contains until they are
misleading, marketing) to say that sourdough bread
baker’s yeast. baker’s yeast. capable of raising dough. Liquid Sourdough Starter
is made without yeast. All sourdough cultures
contain one or more species of yeast. In some cases Now, unless you bought this book for its ornamental
these yeasts might even include the same species value or to prop up a wobbly table, something you’ll
straight away. Working up a full head of steam (how Straight process plain dough
(Saccharomyces cerevisiae) that is sold as baker’s and be using a lot of is a sourdough starter.
many metaphors can I mix in here?) is particularly (long ferment)
brewer’s yeast. It is unlikely, however, that even if
useful when making an enriched dough, where the The recipe (if you can call two ingredients that) on
S. cerevisiae is present in a sourdough culture that it
high levels of sugar will hinder the yeast. This is any recipe in which all the flour, baker’s yeast, the following page is both simple and effective. Rye
will be genetically identical to a commercial strain.
water and salt (plus any other ingredients) are mixed grains seem to host very large microbe populations
Gluten Strength
and fermented together in one go. For the purposes Specific strains of S. cerevisiae have been chosen and as they live on the outside of the grain, your
During the fermentation of a stiffer pre-ferment (like of this book, all the straight process doughs are left over years of selective breeding, for example for their chances improve when using wholemeal flour, and
a traditional biga) and especially in a sourdough, acid to ferment for longer periods. ability to produce large volumes of carbon dioxide, it makes sense to use organic flour as the crop won’t
levels will increase. This assists gluten formation, and and to generate different flavour profiles in the have been sprayed with fungicides.
so is useful when working with weaker flours. Sourdough finished product. A strain of genetically modified
A plastic container with a lid is convenient for
baker’s yeast was approved for use in the UK some
Dough Extensibility Sourdough is the oldest method of making leavened storage because if your starter gets frisky, the lid
years ago, but it has not and is not being used in
bread. Historians generally seem to agree the first will simply pop off, whereas a glass jar with a
Conversely, in a more liquid starter, particularly bread making. Some brands, however, might not be
leavened loaf probably came out of an oven in screwtop or metal clip seal could crack or shatter.
one fermented at room temperature without salt, able to be labelled as GM free, if the growth medium
Egypt, sometime between 6,000 and 3,500 years
protease (an enzyme that breaks down protein) (e.g. soya molasses) used was from a GM plant. The amount of flour you use isn’t important so
ago. Genuine sourdough bread is leavened (i.e.
activity will be increased. This will make the dough we’ve started small, as instructions that tell you
made to rise – like lever, it comes from a Latin word One further thought – yeasts die at around
more extensible or stretchy. to throw portions of your starter away just seem
meaning “to raise”) using only a culture of yeasts and 60°C/140°F. As the internal temperature of bread
wasteful. Please keep to the 1:1 ratio, though.
Bread Flavour (probiotic) “friendly” lactic acid bacteria, which live should reach at least 95°C/205°F during baking, by
happy lives on the surface of cereal grains. the time a properly made loaf of any type of bread To Convert Your Starter to Wheat
During fermentation, all sorts of dough alchemy
is ready to eat, it will contain no live yeast, only dead
goes on, which helps create flavour and aroma Culture Club Although you can use the rye starter for wheat
cells and by-products.
compounds. As time increases, so do the amounts of breads, you might prefer to convert it by replacing
Yeasts and bacteria live in and all around us, including
these, so it is a useful addition to a shorter process As for whether or not someone who has a yeast the rye flour in refreshments with wheat flour
on the outside of wheat and other cereals. Milling
recipe as a way of improving texture and flavour. allergy or intolerance can eat sourdough bread, (white or wholemeal/wholewheat) until it is all
mixes these microbes into the resulting flour, so if
personal experience may produce the only reliable wheat. Alternatively, you can use wheat flour from
If you want to get serious with pre-ferments, do you take some (particularly wholemeal) and provide
answer, but our advice would be to get tested by the word go: again, wholemeal/wholewheat will give
some research online or in baking manuals to find a suitable (basically warm and wet) environment, the
an expert in food allergies and intolerances. you a better chance of success. Whether you keep
out about the effects that time, temperature, yeast microorganisms will thrive. Eventually there will be
separate rye, white wheat, wholemeal/wholegrain
quantities and so on will have on them, and on enough yeast cells burping carbon dioxide as a by- Control
wheat, and even other starters on the go, or just one,
your Real Bread. You’ll also get to read endless product of their respiration to make bread rise. At
As well as one or more types of yeast, sourdough is up to you.
disagreements over the true definitions of biga, the same time, the throng of bacteria will increase.
cultures contain lactobacilli (lactic acid bacteria) that
sponge, poolish etc. This is sourdough culture or leaven.
12 Real Slow Bread Real Slow Bread 13
SOURDOUGH STARTER SOURFAUX
Daily: days one to five (ish) Day six (ish) At the time of writing, there is no legal The Real Bread Campaign believes • without the addition of commercial
30g/1oz/3½ tbsp rye flour Once your starter is bubbling up nicely, you can use definition for the word “sourdough” that shoppers seeking genuine yeast or other leavening agents
30g/1oz/2 tbsp water (at about 20°C/68ºF) some to bake a loaf of Real Bread. Typically, this might and complaints made by the Campaign sourdough deserve the protection (e.g. baking powder)
be anything from four to seven days after you started, but about products marketed as such, of a definition that only allows the • without any artificial additives
On each of the first five days, put equal amounts of flour
could take a little longer. If it’s not bubbling by day six, despite being made using baker’s word to be used for loaves made: • without any other souring agent
and water into your container, mix, close and leave at room
keep repeating the daily flour and water addition until it is. yeast and artificial additives, have • using a live sourdough culture, not (e.g. vinegar or yogurt)
temperature (about 20°C/68°F) for 24 hours between
Don’t worry if you end up with a layer of brownish liquid. This been dismissed by retailers and the inactive dried sourdough powder
each addition.
is just gravity working its magic and is normal. Either stir it Advertising Standards Authority. added purely for taste and acidity
For the first few days, the mixture might seem lifeless and back into your starter or pour it off. If your starter hasn’t
could smell vinegary or even a bit “off”. Don’t worry about been used for a while, the second option is probably better
this, as it should soon start bubbling and the smell will as the liquid (sometimes known as “hooch”) will have started they are not necessarily the strains most suited to folding until the alternating layers of dough and
develop into something yeasty and maybe even floral. to become alcoholic, which can slow the starter down and making bread. fat are many – and very thin. During baking, the
may also lead to less desirable flavours in your bread. fat melts and both air trapped during folding and
• Honey is high in sugars, on which the yeast can
carbon dioxide formed by the yeast expand and
feed. Unpasteurized honey can also contain yeasts
Caring for Your Starter to “wake up” though and it might need a few days’ force the layers apart, to create a flaky structure.
and bacteria.
of refreshments before it’s up to full vigour. Keeping the dough chilled and baking at the right
• Each time you use some of the starter, simply replace
temperature are both essential to ensure the finished
with an equivalent quantity of flour and water – this • Unless you are using your starter every single day, Enriched dough
product is light and flaky, and not greasy. Examples
is usually known as feeding or refreshing. You also keep it in the fridge, which will slow it down and
If sugars, eggs, dairy products or fats are included, a include croissants, Danish pastries and lardy cake.
need to refresh on the day before a baking session. reduce the frequency at which you need to refresh
dough is described as “enriched”. These ingredients
it. You just need to remember to take it out and
• When refreshing, feel free to experiment with alter the dough structure and behaviour as well as
refresh it the day before you intend to make a loaf. BEFORE YOU START
different ratios and total amounts of flour to water: the character of the finished bread. Enriched doughs
a looser starter will ferment more quickly than a Unnecessary Extras require different handling and baking, as sugars and Certain bits of kit and techniques appear in this
stiff one; refreshing more often or adding a large fats interfere with the formation of gluten and have book over and over again. To save you from having
To make a starter you need nothing but flour and
refreshment will dilute the taste and acidity. an effect on the speed and temperature at which to read the same detail each time, I’ve collected them
water, but here are some other things you sometimes
browning occurs. Examples include brioche, Bath together in the following sections on techniques,
• It’s a living thing (well, technically billions of living find in sourdough instructions, along with why that
buns and some types of focaccia, though others only equipment and ingredients. Please read these notes
things) so get to know it. The acidity, flavour, might be:
have oil added after the dough has been made. An before setting out on a recipe or you’ll forever be
aromas and speed at which starters work vary, so
• Rhubarb is high in several acids, which can help enriched dough may be leavened with sourdough saying things like “eh, what does that word mean?”
learn what’s normal for yours.
deter pathogenic (bad) microorganisms and create culture or commercial yeast. or “hang on, what am I baking this dough on?”
• Give it a name. You can’t call yourself a proper an environment favoured by lactic acid bacteria.
NB: The added teaspoon of sugar or knob of butter Please also read a recipe from start to finish well
sourdough nut if you don’t – though I know some
• Hops also have anti-bacterial properties. found in some domestic bread recipes does not make them before you’re thinking of baking it. That’s good
people strongly disagree with me on this one!
enriched doughs. advice for any recipe but particularly for this book,
• Live yogurt is also acidic and contains lactic acid
• Forget it. Unlike other members of your household, in which you’ll find that the short stages of some
bacteria, though not necessarily the types most
your starter will be forgiving of neglect. Though it Laminated doughs recipes are spread over several days.
suitable for producing bread.
will be happy to help you bake bread once a week or
These differ from enriched doughs in that the fat Throughout the book you’ll find suggestions from
even daily, your starter can be left untouched at the • Mashed potato provides an extra source of food
(e.g. butter, lard or shortening) is added after the the experts in the Baker’s Tips, as well as additional
back for the refrigerator for weeks or even months. for yeast and bacteria.
dough is made up. The process involves sandwiching interesting bits and bobs, which I’ve called sippets:
The yeast and bacteria populations will decline
• Grapes, raisins, sultanas/golden raisins and so on the fat between layers of dough, rolling it out, folding
over time but enough will live on in a dormant Sippet: noun; a small piece of something, for example
have yeasts and bacteria on their skins but again, to make more layers, then repeating the rolling and
state. The longer you leave it, the longer it’ll take a piece of toast or fried bread for dipping in soup.
14 Real Slow Bread Real Slow Bread 15
Legal Bread Weights
The references to “large” and “small” loaves in this
book are just for guidance and don’t refer to any
standard legal loaf weights. If baking loaves for
sale, please check with the relevant authorities in
your area for definitive advice on this and for their
recommendations on scaling dough to weights that
will ensure your baked loaves are within legal limits.
Terms and Techniques
1 Fermentation
Cover Commonly used to refer to the yeast (and by
I’ve tried to keep professional baker speak to a is baking more quickly or slowly, so keep an eye on
association, the dough) getting on and doing its
minimum but here are brief explanations of some it and tweak as appropriate. You might also have to This instruction is given several times in every recipe
thing. Without getting too scientific, yeast cells
of the instructions in the book and why you’re adjust the baking time and/or temperature if you and what you use depends on the situation. If you’re
produce an enzyme that breaks some of the starch
following them. go off-piste and make adjustments to a recipe. proving or resting dough at room temperature, one
in flour down into simpler sugars, which they then
option is simply to leave it on the work surface and
metabolize in order to grow and reproduce. One
Autolyse Burst cover with a large mixing bowl. Another is to put
by-product of this is the carbon dioxide that makes
the dough into a large bowl and cover with a damp,
This is a word adopted by the late baking expert In the first few minutes of baking, loaves swell dough rise.
clean dish towel, large elasticated bowl cover or
professor Raymond Calvel for a process of mixing rapidly (this is called “oven spring”) and can rupture,
shower cap. Alternatively, you can slip the bowl
together flour and water and leaving it to rest before which is known as a burst. Bursting can be useful in Fold
into a reusable plastic bag that’s large enough to
adding any other ingredients. Some bakers find it helping to have an open (rather than tight or close)
be sealed around it. I try to avoid anything that’s Doing a fold (or a turn, as some bakers call it)
makes mixing and kneading easier and shorter, and crumb structure, but it can happen at random and
single-use, such as cling film/plastic wrap. has several functions. The two main ones that
improves the structure of their bread. Some bakers not necessarily in an attractive way. For a note on
enthusiastic amateurs need to know are that it helps
wrongly include yeast, but the essential point is not controlling bursting, see Slashing on pages 21–22. Another option is a large plastic container with
to develop the gluten in a way that allows for a more
to add the salt until afterward. a sealable lid, which is particularly handy when
open-textured bread; and it redistributes carbon
Cleared retarding dough in the fridge. If you’re getting more
dioxide without totally knocking out those lovely
Baking times serious and making bread or pizza dough in quantity,
A term sometimes used in commercial bakeries, this bubbles you’ve nurtured.
stackable dough trays or boxes are the way forward.
Baking times depend in part on the weight and type means that ingredients have been mixed together
One way to do a fold is to lift the side of the dough
of bread you’re making and the oven temperature. fully with no dry bits in the bowl or within the
Dividing and scaling furthest from you, gently stretch it upward and
For example, if an 800g/1lb 12oz loaf baked at dough itself.
then fold it toward you over the rest of the dough.
230°C/210°C fan/450°F/gas 8 takes about 30 If a recipe is for more than one loaf, or is formed
Rotate the dough (or whole bowl, if it’s in one) a
minutes, then a 400g/14oz loaf of the same dough Cooling from more than one piece (e.g. a plait) you will need
half turn and repeat the stretch and fold with the
might take 22–25 minutes, and 100g/3½oz rolls to divide the dough. This is best done with your
I’ve yet to see any evidence to support the notion side that is now opposite and then do the same for
15–18 minutes. An enriched dough will require a trusty dough scraper (see fig. 1), with the aim of
that bread is more digestible once it has cooled after the remaining two sides.
lower oven temperature as sugars, fruit, butter, milk getting it right first time, rather than nibbling bits
baking, but there are good reasons for leaving a loaf
and some other ingredients colour and burn easily. off one piece to add to the other to even them up. For a double fold, simply repeat this folding process
on a wire rack to cool before slicing. One is that the
once more.
Shape will also affect baking time. For example, even crumb of newly-baked bread tends not to hold its Ideally, you should check the weight of each piece
if a baguette weighs 400g/14oz, its high surface area shape very well and can even be gummy if it is cut using electronic scales. Equal weights helps ensure
Heating the oven
to volume ratio would mean the baking time would before it has cooled. Another is that the loaf will lose they bake at the same speed, are aesthetically
be less than if baked in a loaf tin or as a cob/boule. a greater amount of moisture as steam if sliced when pleasing and, for professional bakers, it is important Real Bread needs to be baked in an oven that’s already
Times given are for guidance and you may find a loaf hot, which can speed drying out and staling. (or even legally required) that each weighs the same. hot. If you put it into an oven that’s cold or only warm,
16 Terms and Techniques Terms and Techniques 17